


Yawns The Abyss

by taichara



Category: Voltron Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 02:13:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8185084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taichara/pseuds/taichara
Summary: Keith sees his missteps, perhaps too late.  
And some things are still left unanswered in the end.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [neptune47](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neptune47/gifts).



_I guess this is it ..._

The thought came sluggishly, clouded by pain and the whirling vertigo of blood loss. Coughing, spitting crimson, Keith forced himself to draw another breath, and then another, fighting against the burning in his veins and the blackness that hovered in his vision ...

To no avail. 

He remembered, vaguely; recalled the ambush, the Drule warships, battered and scored by a thousand battles, that rammed the Den before the team ever had a chance. No time to reach the Lions, no time to bring weapons to bear. 

Overrun. In moments, they were overrun; and all Keith could hope, then -- as the cold metal and dead flesh of a beast that wore a Drule king's twisted features drove him into the deckplates -- was that somehow the others had escaped.

The thing took its time in maiming him. It was methodical, strangely controlled in its rage, and he could almost, _almost_ believe that some shred of Lotor's mind -- or what passed for a soul, in a Drule -- still existed in the warped creature that was taking him apart. The thought brought the spectre of a smile to his lips, despite the agony.

_... Which one of us made the bigger mistake in the end, eh, Lotor?_

_I didn't see what happened ... to Daniel._

_I should have. My responsibility._

Bloodied smile became a cough of laughter --

_But you ..._

_... Look what you let them make you into._

Cold comfort, that, with death waiting in the wings. Another stray thought snaked its way through his fading awareness; was Daniel aboard the Den, now, somewhere? Had Vince tracked him down? If this beast finally chose to leave its flagship, then Daniel must not be far --

_What could you do, idiot ... even if he was?_

_... Should have seen. Should have guessed._

_... Should have expected that damned witch -- it was even in the name ..._

_... How were we so blind ... how was I so blind ... _

The floor spiraled away from him in a wave of vertigo. Black talons seized him, dug in deeply, heaved him high; agony sparked black and scarlet in his eyes and the end loomed, overwhelming -- then the beast's grip loosened unexpectedly, and he crumpled to the floor of the hangar once again, his world gone grey.

One breath, fought for dearly. Another.

Where did it -- where did _he_ go? What just happened?

Death hovered, circling, waiting. Keith could feel its breath on his neck, waiting to tear out his throat. Then, voices. Distant, incomprehensible. They could have been entire systems away, for all he could understand. 

Breathe. Again. Breathe.

He thought he heard 'Arus'; cold fear -- not for himself, never himself -- jolted across savaged nerves. Arus ... 

_... Voltron in space ..._

_... We've left Arus undefended._

_... I've left ..._

_... such a fool ..._

The voices converged on him, mixed with sounds of hissing plasma and a guttural snarl that sawed across his failing awareness as grey vision faded slowly, inescapably to final black.

And Keith's last conscious thought was nothing but a simple question:

_why did it let me go ...?_


End file.
